Duality
by xMusicallyAd3ptx
Summary: He is rage, passion, insecurity. He is the Darkness that binds every living thing, but fractured and uncertain. She is loyalty, loneliness, a struggle against the many forces of the world all seeking to make their mark on her. What happens when they clash? Are they doomed to cancel one another out, or could they bring something to the Universe never seen before? AU. Reylo.
1. Chapter 1

**Duality**

 _Chapter 1_

The trees around her fly past like glimpses into some painting of a calmer scene. Her feet pound the earth like a wild rabbit's, jagged and unstable. Jump over the rock. Dodge the branch. She stops for a moment behind a large trunk, catching her breath. Her lungs burn like they're filled with lit coal. _In. Out. In. Out._

Her breathing slows. She feels something in her hair and reaches up to remove a small twig from the tresses. Such a simple act in such a dangerous time. It felt unnatural. She wondered how close they were; how the battle was progressing. She needed to head back. For Han. For Finn. It was the right thing to do. The sentiment was almost visceral.

She turns around from the tree to the sight of two Stormtroopers rushing in her direction. White splashes venomous against the sea of green. She jerkily raises the blaster and fires. Miss. She fires again. The bolt of pure energy slices through the gap between the soldier's helmet and chestplate and flies into the distance behind. He falls to the earth with a wild yell, writhing like a worm. His companion stops, crouches and begins to shoot, a volley of beams that split the vegetation and air around her. She rolls away, her instincts taking over. The blaster in her hand rises of its own accord, and the other soldier falls to the ground, a smoking hole in his helmet.

 _Kill or be killed. Kill..._

She starts to make her way forward when a strange sensation erupts along her spine. Something is there, around her. Something powerful. She doesn't understand how she knows, but she does. Whirling around, she scans the trees quickly. Nothing. The presence grows stronger, but she still sees nothing.

And then all of a sudden he's there. Like a wraith from some hellish dimension, tall and menacing and draped in black. A mask sits upon his face, glaring impassively at her. The face of Death. It is him. The one she who had only existed to her in story and myth. She opens her mouth to scream but nothing but a dry hiss of hot air emits. She jerks up the blaster and squeezes the trigger, and in horror she watches as the bolts come to a standstill between her and him before flying off into the distance. The blaster is abruptly ripped from her hand and disassembled in the air before her in a few short moments. She turns to run but finds herself unable to move, held ramrod straight by some unknowable iron force.

She is rotated to face him against her will. He hasn't restricted the use of her vocal chords so she opens her mouth to tell him that he's nothing. That he's going to lose. Her own voice sounds humiliatingly panicked to her ears. He laughs from beneath the mask, a metallic huff that comes in bursts. He takes a few steps towards her and stops.

"So, you're the girl I've heard so much about. It's a shame we have to meet on these terms."

She says nothing, biting her tongue. Defiance wells up in her like a possessive spirit.

Three Stormtroopers burst through the trees to their right, and he waves them down with a lift of his hand.

He turns back to her. "Where is the droid?"

She spits on the ground. "Like hell you're going to find out!"

He laughs again. She hates it. Like a rusty hiss. It makes her bones crawl.

"So fiery," he drawls. "I like that."

He raises his right hand, fingers outstretched, and she begins to feel a prickle at the base of her neck. Her mind is suddenly encumbered with a foreign presence. Heavy, sharp. The presence starts worming its way through her head, and her thoughts fly by in a scramble. She tries to fight it, but it is futile. He is just too strong. It stops just as abruptly as it had begun. He found what he was looking for.

"You have seen the map," he murmurs. Her eyes widen.

He jerks his head to the Storm Troopers. "Forget the droid. We have what we need."

He looks at her for a long time, what feels like an eternity. And then it all goes black.

oOoOoOo

Light dances on her closed eyelids and she raises her hands to rub them. They fail to move. Her eyes fly open, and she is blinded by a harsh overheard light that ruthlessly burns her retinas. After squeezing them shut for several moments, she tries to scan her surroundings.

The battle comes rushing back to her. The Stormtroopers. The realization that she had killed. Killed a living being. Being _s_. Two creatures with names. With memories. They were just...gone. At her hand.

Then him. The man of such dark might. Their short conversation sparked by blaster shots. And then…nothing.

A voice from her right causes her frenzied head jerking to cease.

"Don't flail about in such a way," it says smoothly. It is elegant, poised. "Might break your neck, and you are entirely too valuable.

The voice's owner steps into her gaze, commanding and unemotional. She feels a rage crawl up her insides, a tempest of fire.

"You," she bites out, her lips curling.

He scoffs. "Who else?"

She bares her teeth at him. "Come to finish off what you started? Why don't you take off that mask? Or are you incapable of not hiding behind that piece of metal?"

She's surprised when her demand is rewarded with the raising of two long-fingered hands. They come up to the underside of the helmet and press two buttons. The mask detaches, and he begins to pull it off. Her mouth twists into a frown when she imagines what she is about to see. A mass of scars. Disfigurement. A monster.

Her mouth almost falls open when man's handsome face emerges from the mask. He is young, looks close to her age. She knows he cannot be as young as she, but there is an unfailing youth about him. Features powerful and long, a large nose beset by two deep russet eyes. There is Han there, and Leia, but something totally different, too. Something unique and proud. She feels the prick of a hotness in her lower abdomen and immediately is disgusted when she realizes its desire. She crushes it immediately.

She smirks when he notices what had played across her features. His eyes slowly rake her features, and she feels her cheeks burn. Gods, he wouldn't do that, would he? Fear courses through her veins.

"Do you know who I am?" he asks, meeting her eyes.

She sneers. "Of course I do. You're Kylo Ren. A villain and a coward."

His eyebrows dart together for a second, but then he smiles like the embodiment of mockery and walks over to her. Stops a foot from her imprisoning chair. To her surprise, he kneels. His face level with hers.

"You are strong, Rey." She tenses at the use of her given name. "You don't know the extent of your power. You have never felt this before, have you?"

She doesn't know what to say. He's tricking her, playing with her mind. She won't give him a thing.

"Shut up!" she barks. "I won't give in to your head games!"

His hand glides up to her face and she doesn't move. She wouldn't show him she was afraid. He would know she was strong. Gloved fingertips gently come to rest against her cheek and temple.

"You're a scared girl, Rey," he intones, eerily calm. She feels him inside her head again. "I've seen you in solitude on Jakku. The loneliness. The need for someone. I've seen it all. You want to belong."

She tries to resist him as angry tears spring up at the corners of her eyes. "You don't know me at all; you're evil, cruel, a monster…"

He cuts her off. "Rey, I can train you. Han, them, they know nothing. I will help you harness your abilities. There will be no more holes in your heart. Follow me into the Dark, and I will be your guide."

His words are so beautiful to her, like candies from a tree of snakes. She had felt the Light in her before, but now she feels its twin. The Dark nudges against her soul, wrapping its heavy tendrils around it, beckoning to her. She knows it is not what she wants, but she cannot help the tiny urge to give in to the seduction. It is so sweet, and so alluring.

But it is not her. She summons her energy and pushes back against him. His grip on her face becomes tight, rough.

"Get out of my head," she hisses. "I will never join you. You're a disgusting fiend."

"Rey," he warns. "Join me, and together we will accomplish things the universe has never seen before. I need that map, Rey. Give me the map."

"NO!" she shouts, and pushes him away with her mind. She feels a ragged thought, foreign and dark, slip into her mind. His thought. "You will never be as strong as Vader!"

He recoils like he'd been struck. He leaps to his feet and draws his lightsaber, face a twisted vengeful distortion. An orange beam erupts into life in the room, and he brings it an inch from her neck. The heat emanating from it is unbearable, and she squirms away.

"Never speak of him," he growls. She sees in his eyes a mortal rage, all-consuming. For the first time, she realizes he is human. Deep down, he isn't a destructive machine. There is emotion, and there is pain.

"Kylo," she says, and his eyes widen slightly. His name tastes like honey on her tongue. "You aren't evil. Let me go. I can take you back to your parents. All will be well."

He falters for a split-second, a strange look passing through his eyes. Through his Dark, she senses the vestiges of the Light. It is there. He suppresses it.

And then he laughs. This time, however, there is no metallic ring. It is deep and rich, though sinister. She finds it almost…musical. She chides herself. He is the enemy.

"I appreciate the foolish sentiment, Rey," he drawls. "And the amusement from your delusion that you could sway me. Think about what I have said to you."

And with that, he was gone.


	2. Chapter 2

**Duality**

 _Chapter 2_

When he hears the door click shut behind him and he winds the corner, he stops and backs up into the wall. His hands come up to grip his head. He feels so odd. Like an intoxication. A wash of emotion attuned to nothing he has experienced before.

He doesn't understand. She is so pure, so Light. He should hate her. He should destroy her. But he feels himself inexplicably drawn. He tries to mold herself into something detestable in his mind, but he knows it is a worthless task. There is a connection between them. Her Force energy drew his in a way that he couldn't grasp, like two giant magnets held facing one another for eternity.

 _The way she broke into my mind…_

She was powerful. Her energy and skill was like a ball of molten steel, waiting to be shaped into something useful. He hadn't expected such resistance from a scavenger rat from a desolate desert planet. But then again…possibly it was her…

And then the thought creeps into his head like a timid serpent. She could…she could be his. He could mold her. He had offered to her just minutes before, but that was just a ploy. Now…now he wanted to. He wanted to teach her. Eradicate her Light and fashion her in the shroud of Darkness. Make her into his weapon and his tool. Just _his._ He feels himself grow hot with a sort of boyish excitement.

Snoke would want her. He knew his Master would find out about this girl, this rose from the dead planet. He would want to crush her. Make her an example. But Kylo wouldn't let him. She was too beautiful. He wanted the little light for himself. Together, they would finish what his grandfather set out to do.

As he turns to leave, his mask reset firmly in place, he senses someone approaching. He turns to locate the intruder. General Hux. Of course.

"Ah, there you are, sir," the man announces with a slight snarky grin. "We were getting worried about how your interrogation was going when you didn't emerge for quite some time."

He didn't hate General Hux. The man was more of a nuisance to him than anything. They had a friendship once, if one could call it that. But then power was introduced into the mix, and they became at odds. They were in a continual struggle to move pieces in their own way across the board.

Kylo sneers. "It went quite well, I can assure you."

The General lifts an eyebrow. "Ah, then I assume you have gained the map?"

The back of Kylo's neck burns with anger. "No," he bites out. "She was too resistant. It will be but a matter of another interrogation to break her."

"Well, let us hope it goes according to your hopes, sir."

Kylo's eyes flash and he quells the urge to reach for his lightsaber. He merely nods once at the man, and then waives his hand in dismissal. The General grimaces almost imperceptibly, and then is gone. _Good riddance, worm._

Kylo turns to look at his captive's cell down the hall. He wonders how long it would take to break her. He didn't want to hurt her. Didn't want to harm her. But he would have to do as he must to show her the correct side of the Force.

Yes, she would be his.

oOoOoOo

As soon as he had walked out of the doors, she had begun to formulate her way out. There had to be a way out. She tugs at her wrist manacles but they won't budge. She kicks and she finds the same for her legs. And then she senses another living presence in the room. Probably a guard stationed at her door. It was still odd to her that she could simply _know_ there was a life force there. Even if she didn't want to, she would still know. It was just an awareness. A tap on the shoulder.

She focuses with all her might on the manacles on her hands. Through the Force, she can feel them, run their edges. But she just can't move them. Her powers aren't strong.

She suddenly remembers an old story told to her on Jakku about the Jedi. She had been told they could manipulate people's minds to get them to do things. "Jedi Mind Trick", it had been called. Kylo had played with her emotions, had rummaged through her head like an old box. Why couldn't she do it?

With the Force she reaches out to the life force in the room and tries to pinpoint its thinking processes. When she thinks she has it, she pokes at it with her power. Summoning her best command voice, she calls out, "You will remove these restraints and leave the room with the door open."

She is met with nothing but a resounding silence. And then there is a snicker. Embarrassment razed her cheeks. The trooper is laughing at her.

But she had to try again. "You will remove these restraints and leave the room with the door open."

This time she is rewarded with a growl. The footsteps of the Stormtrooper spring to life and echo in the room as it makes its way over to her.

"Say that again, and I'm going to have to teach you a lesson," it barks, before coming into her view.

Han. Finn. She had to do this. She focuses again and finds that it was easier to grab ahold of someone's thought core when one is looking at them. She gives a strong push, and feels herself break through. Energy comes rushing through her head.

The Stormtrooper's arms go slack and his head lolls slightly. Relief floods her. She has her chance.

"You will remove these restraints and leave the room with the door open."

The Stormtrooper's limbs snap back into place and she finds him begin to repeat exactly what she had just said.

In a hollow voice, it drones, "I will remove these restraints and leave the r-,"

It never finishes its sentence. Rey jerks her head back as an orange beam of light suddenly bursts through the trooper's chest and comes a mere foot from her face. She yelps in surprise. The beam disappears as quickly as it had materialized, and the body of the Stormtrooper careens to the ground.

She is held fast by sheer shock and terror. And then that familiar silky voice fills her head, and she sees him.

"That was a clever little ruse, Rey. You almost had your ticket to freedom."

"No…" she whispers, realizing that with the fall of that trooper's body, her hopes had similarly been dashed to death.

"Yes," he affirms, kneeling again before her. This long black locks partially cover his face. "It is over, Rey. No one is coming to save you. You are where you belong, now. You were meant to come here. They were simply holding you back."

Rage and desperation flood her. Tears prick at her eyes.

"You…you monster…" she says, voice shaking. He smirks, and she tries to hate him. Tries to hate his face that was too beautiful for evil. Tries to hate his perfect words. But she fails.

"The people that dumped you on Jakku?" he continues. "They aren't coming for you either."

That hits her like a bag full of spare speeder parts. The wind leaves her, and she can't help the sob that tore from her throat. Gods, he is so cruel.

"Rey, I can help you now. They aren't coming for you. You don't matter to them." He narrows his eyes, looking almost angry himself. "To them you aren't a desert rose, but a scavenger piece of filth."

For a moment, she is shocked at the almost genuine way he speaks of her. As if he believes it himself. But she knows he is trying to break her. She had to fight him. She would not be his to control.

"You're wrong," she spits. "They are nothing like you and your people. They're good. They will come for me."

He laughs almost softly. She is struck with the wild urge to scream, to kill him.

"No, Rey," he states firmly. "They aren't. You have a choice, now. You will be mine to train, or you will die. Be smart."

She imagines the faces of her friends and conjures from deep within her a shield against the Darkness filling her head. It is tantalizing, like a dancer that captures attention and doesn't let it go. Her teeth emerge from behind her lips.

"No!" she roars. "You are a coward and a traitor, and Vader would have been ashamed of you!"

Instantly, she knows she has struck his weakness again, but harder. She feels his anger through the Force, and it almost singes her. Her nerves twinge painfully.

His lightsaber is on, and she watches him in rapt horror as he swings it a foot from her chair, slicing through the floor and leaving a swath of molten metal. He grabs her neck brusquely with his free hand and jerks her head towards him.

"You little _schutta_ ," he hisses, and the sound is infinitely more dangerous to her than the blade of energy in his other hand. "I am your Master now and you will not speak to me that way!"

He releases her throat and draws his arm back, and her head snaps forcefully to the right as his hand connects with her cheek. Pain fills her head, and it swims with the blow. She cries out, and the tears fall freely from her eyes. This was it. He was going to kill her.

A moment passes, and the lightsaber is suddenly turned off. Another goes by, and she is confused. Why hasn't he ended her yet? Was he toying with her?

She turns to look at him and is shocked for a second time that encounter. His eyes, his deep russet orbs are filled with a pain. She is floored when she realizes it must have hurt him to punish her. He was vulnerable to her pain.

"Kylo," she pleads. "You don't want to hurt me. Let me go, please. Please."

He stares with wounded eyes at her for a second, and then stands.

"You're right," he says. "I don't want to hurt you. But nothing has changed. The choice is yours."

And then he is gone again, and she is left confused and angry.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N** : The responses to this story have been absolutely off the chain. I'm overwhelmed. Thank you guys so much! Please enjoy!

 **Duality**

 _Chapter 3_

Days passed, or so she thought. Time was as useless to her as the lightsaber attached to Ren's hip. The room morphed from light to dark many times a day, the light flickering out seemingly at random. She was fed a strange, almost tasteless food twice daily by a black droid, to her chagrin. She could not figure out how to manipulate it. Other than that, there was nothing. No contact. Not with him, or anyone. Her thoughts were destroying her.

Her mind presently dances to Finn, his kind face and bright smile. Would he come? Would Han come? As each hour slipped by, her hope thinned. It was agony. The Light in her was fading, despite her efforts to cling to it. Black thoughts found themselves wrapping around her spirit in increasing volume, until she had to physically shake her head at times to try to regain some clarity. When she slept, it was worse. He was always there.

Kylo Ren. The Master of the Knights of Ren. The monster. She couldn't shake the burning image of his ghastly mask from her sight when her eyes closed. He was always there, taunting her, his knowing eyes gleaming from within the mask. Evil, though he was, she could not deny the strange pull her Force center felt when he was near her. Like a rope around her midsection, dragging her invisibly into the jaws of doom. It didn't make sense. He was so dark, so wrong. How could he draw her in such a way?

She remembers Leia's words about him. ' _We can bring him back. There is still good in him_.' He was a foul being, but he was her _son_. The maternal awareness lent some credit to the notion of his faulty Darkness. Han seemed to think he wasn't completely lost, either. Rey had seen the strange glitches in his eyes, the frantic jumps to emotions he was deeply petrified of. Yes, he was evil, but perhaps…perhaps he wasn't beyond redemption.

The door slides open and light fills the room, and she blinks as her eyes struggle to adjust to the sudden change. But she didn't have to see to know who was there. She could sense him. His energy, the power rolling off him in waves. It was like a Rancor had entered the room. She watches as he strides through the enclosed space toward her, mask in place. He was a nightmarish sort of majesty.

He stops feet before her. For several moments, he simply stands there. Watching her, like some fiendish predator savoring the sight of his kill. She stares brazenly back at him, though her mind is weakened significantly. She feels the urge to look away, to succumb to his dominion, but she bats it away. It wouldn't be easy for him. Not while she had breath to give to the air.

"I trust you've given thought to what I've said," he says evenly, the metallic hum of the distorted syllables filling the room.

She scoffs. "No, I've just been planning all the different ways I'm going to shove that mask up y-,"

"Silence!" he commands, and she complies, jaw set rigidly. Sith have no sense of humor.

He approaches her slowly, and with every advancing step he seems to grow huger and huger until he is like a leviathan before her. The air seems to be drawn to him, and she finds her lungs become tight. The air almost crackles with his dark zeal.

"Rey," he says, and the closeness of his manufactured hiss causes her to flinch. "Don't fight anymore. You know as well as I that it is useless. You have felt the Darkness. I can see it worming around in your pretty little skull. Why so afraid of what you know you want?"

She pushes back against his words as they leak into her ears, into her head, into her very soul like some sweet toxin. She focuses on the images of Finn, of BB, of Han. Her eyes draw shut as he continues.

"You are afraid of the Darkness because you do not understand it."

He kneels, and she hears the rush of air that signals the opening of his mask. She opens her eyes and looks, and her breath is almost stolen as she takes him in. Under this spell, this intoxication of the shadow, he looks like a devil. A devil so alluring that hell almost seems like a paradise.

"The Darkness is not your enemy, Rey," he intones softly. "The Darkness is just a tool. It is passion; it is anger. It is not so meek as to shun emotion as the Jedi do, wielding the Light like going into battle wearing a two ton metal suit. You have heard so very little about the Force. You're just an infant in its ways." He pauses, his eyes trailing over her features, pausing momentarily upon her lips. "Don't let what you've been told fool you. Believe only what you see, and not what you hear. Believe _this_."

He jolts up and throws his arm out like he's delivering a blow, and Rey watches transfixed as bolts of black lightning emit from his fingertips and collide with the wall, singing its surface and causing the light to flicker wildly. It is a display of vicious beauty unlike anything she's ever seen. She drinks it in like a man at a well in the desert. Gods, the power…

And then the bolts are gone, and she's left staring at his hand awestruck. He turns to her, and the wide smile on his face is almost maniacal.

"Don't you see, Rey?! Don't you see what you can have?"

Somehow his jubilant tone snaps her from the trance.

"Kylo," she proclaims, voice shaky. "You know that is a lie! The Darkness will consume you. You'll be left as mad and as ruined as all the Sith before! Just turn away from it. I know you have a flicker inside you."

He looks away instantly, and a shroud falls over his face. She senses the tiny confliction in his Signature, but she knows it is not enough. The state he was in was too gripping.

But it is enough for her to decide. If that spark was there, she would fight to the death to bring it into full illumination. Leia was right; he could be redeemed. And she would do it from the inside out. She would plant the seeds, and she would bring him back. She would be his servant in order to free him. It was that, or she would die. There was no middle ground.

"You'll look back on this resistance to the Dark someday as your weakest point," he nearly growls. "And when you do, you'll be at your strongest. You will serve me."

A tear slips down her cheek. The choice was made.

"Yes, I will serve you."

He smirks.

"I know."

oOoOoOo

"We have to go get her!"

"Finn, you've gotta relax, buddy. There's nothing we can do right now."

"You're wrong! You won't even try!"

Han rests his face in his hands. The kid was persistent. Loyal. But foolhardy. His care for the girl would most likely someday be the end of him. He had been going on for days about rescuing Rey from the clutches of Starkiller Base, but they simply could not do it. There just weren't enough pieces in place.

"Finn," he repeats, more gently this time. "We'll get the girl. She's too strong for them to just dump off. They need her; and if I know anything about her, I know she'll fight to stay alive as long as she can. We just can't right now."

Finn's face is a maelstrom of hurt and anger and anxiety. Han feels for the kid. He knows what it's like to have a loved one in a dangerous spot and being unable to help them. It's crushing. But there simply was nothing that could be done. He would have to accept it.

Han places his hand on the kid's shoulder.

"Finn, come on. It's best if you get some rest. Try not to think about it too much, alright?"

Finn doesn't respond. Just nods his head once and walks dejectedly toward his chambers. Han watches him retreat and feels a twinge in his chest. For him, for her, and ultimately, for his son. His son he could have done more to protect. The urge to punch something jumps on his back.

By the gods, they would get her back. Even if it meant his son didn't come with.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N** : Again, thank you for the responses! It's a Christmas miracle! Just a heads-up that I might start throwing out some review responses at the bottom, to answer any questions I think should have answers. This one is a little short, but I feel it's necessary development.

 **Duality**

 _Chapter 4_

She's made her decision. She's given in to the machine, if only to save one cog. One long-haired, semi-psychotic cog. She hates herself too much to cry, but the tears fall anyway, as if they're trying to escape her. She reaches up to cover her eyes with a forlorn forearm, but his hand catches it mid-arc. He holds it firmly in place as his other hand comes up to cup her face. He raises her chin, and she's looks at him through the watery film. He's…almost smiling. His eyes are soft.

"You won't fail me, Rey," he murmurs. His fingers almost imperceptibly caress her skin. "I know you won't."

Her mouth opens, but she finds her tongue as equally lost as her head. His fits of temper were far more frightening than his glimpses of humanity. He seems to remember himself, and suddenly the anger is back. His invisible mask slides back into place as he stands. "Come," he orders, and begins to walk toward the exit.

She follows him out of the room she has come to hate more than anything and down the hall. She takes the opportunity to get a look at the interior of Starkiller Base. It is aptly named, she surmises; the facility is massive, a labyrinth of metal and pipe. Such was the grandeur of the First Order, she guesses. Hundreds of faceless Stormtroppers stand like pillars of salt all about the Base, going about their routine tasks and activities. There were so many of them. In the pit of her stomach, a knot takes up residence. The Resistance had no chance at their current capacity.

After a short walk, they arrive at a small set of rooms. He points to the one on the left. "These are to be your quarters, now. Everything you need, you'll find." He pauses, then smirks. "Mine are directly next door, in case you were already dreaming up some convoluted escape plan."

She narrows her eyes, but says nothing. He gestures for her enter, and she does so begrudgingly. Inside is bare and cramped. He was right; there really were only the essentials. A bed, a dresser, a refresher off to the side, and a few miscellaneous other furnishings. But she guesses she can't really complain; she had lived out of the husk of a destroyed starship for the majority of her life. Anything with a roof that didn't leak or was free of random wild creatures of the sand was better. She walks over and takes a seat on the bed.

She watches him as he slowly paces the room, looking over everything. If she didn't know him, she might have thought he was nervous. It seemed…almost humanizing.

 _Ridiculous. Sith don't get nervous._

Her reverie is broken as he begins to speak. "You will refer to me as Master from now on. You will act in a manner that shows as much respect as my title deserves. Insolence won't be tolerated. Though, I guess it must be second nature to you desert rats."

She huffs, but doesn't push. He continues.

"I will teach you everything I know. I will show you how to command the Dark Side of the Force. It is a different tool than the Jedi use, but ultimately more powerful. If one knows how to use it, there are no limitations to what he or she can accomplish." He looks sharply at her. "To what _we_ can accomplish."

"You're afraid of the Dark Side," he goes on, slowly approaching her. "You think it is evil; you think it is nefarious. These are bold lies. The Light isn't so self-sacrificing as you might think, just as the Dark isn't always as immoral as many make it out to be. They are two sides of the same coin. Wielding it is like wielding yourself; the Dark Side draws upon your strongest emotions and empowers you with them. The Light….The Light eschews them. This is their greatest mistake."

He kneels before her. He's making quite a habit out of it, she thinks. "Don't you trust your emotions, Rey? Aren't they what make you a person?"

"Yes…" she agrees tentatively. "But they also can be wrong. Sometimes emotions are irrational. They can lead to fault and too-quick decisions."

"The Sith embrace their emotions, and yes, they can be hasty. But the intelligent individual knows what is useful and what is not. The Dark Side is key to maximizing your effectiveness as a Force-user." He looks directly into her eyes, and she notices for the first time the orange flecks that dot his russet irises. "Without the Dark Side, your emotions only hinder you. With it, they are your greatest weapon."

"Master…" she begins with a slight hesitation, the taste of his newfound title both stinging and exciting on her tongue. "How does the Dark outweigh the Light? Why do Light-wielders defeat the Dark many times?"

"Because they are strong, too," he answers, with an edge to his silky voice. "But eventually they fail, because they are deluded. They do not understand. They do not understand _me_. They do not understand what I have come here to do."

"And what is that, Master?" she prods.

He looks away momentarily, before brushing it aside. "That is for another time, Rey. For now, you must be outfitted." He motions toward the dresser. "Go, open the first drawer. Retrieve what you find there and put it on."

She complies and finds within the drawer a long, black robe with an attached hood. She slides it on over her body and is surprised at how well it fits. Questioningly, she looks at Kylo.

He grins slightly. "If you're wondering, yes, I had it made. The moment you arrived here. I knew you would be mine. You, as well as I, know the pull."

She cannot deny that the attraction between their energies is all too real. It is strong. In the small room, standing so close to him, she can almost feel the thickness of the tension between their essences. His Dark crackling against her aura of Light. It makes her skin prickle.

"Tomorrow we will begin your training," he states. "You will learn to understand the Force, its ebbs and flows, its nooks and crannies. Once you accomplish that, nothing will be in our way."

She nods. She is weary. Fighting the temptation of the Dark Side had become an all-consuming battle. To look at him too closely was to weaken her defenses. His eyes were gateways into the fires of the Darkness. His mouth a vessel that would take them both to the grave. She didn't know what to think anymore.

He is gone in a billow of robes and a swish of long, dark hair. She takes a moment to center herself, to remember who she is, before exploring what little there is to of her room. She pauses before the mirror in her refresher, and she nearly gasps at picture enclosed in its four glass corners. She barely recognizes herself. Her cheeks are gaunt, and her eyes look as hollow as a tomb. Her athletic form is still present, though it has become much thinner.

She stops when she meets her own eyes. This time, she audibly inhales. Her knees slacken, and her heart drops as if she's fallen from a cliff.

 _No…_

There, in her right iris, is a tiny sliver of orange, surrounded by a sea of hazel.


End file.
